What you could have bought instead

But ranking among the area’s most long-standing traditions is theme parks raising their prices. The announcements have become almost a yearly affair at Walt Disney World, Universal Orlando and SeaWorld Orlando — and as long as the parks continue expanding, there’s little to indicate they’ll stop.

After the latest round of increases, here’s how adult one-day admission costs stand:

$105 for Disney World’s Magic Kingdom

$97 for Disney World’s other three parks: Epcot, Hollywood Studios and Animal Kingdom

$96 for both Universal parks: Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure

$92 for SeaWorld

But data without context are like theme parks without screaming children. To understand what you’re really spending, consider this:

When Magic Kingdom opened in 1971, the admission price was $3.50 — 10 times the average price of a gallon of gasoline in Florida that year. Today, admission is 43 times the price of a current gallon of gas: about $2.39

When Universal Orlando opened in 1990, its admission price was $25.40. A Big Mac in that year cost an average of $2.20, meaning park entrance equated to nearly 12 Big Macs. Today, you would have to give up nearly 20 Big Macs (and 11,000 calories) at $4.56 a piece to get into either Universal park.

Parents in 2015 have a tough decision. They can either buy nearly an entire year’s worth of milk for their 2- to 12-year-old (based on average consumption) or flip a coin and decide which parent gets to hang out at SeaWorld for the day.